England white-ball captain Harry Brook hopes “hero” Kevin Pietersen can inspire him to even greater heights after watching highlights of the 2005 Ashes before smashing a 42-ball century against Sri Lanka.

Brook finished on 114 not-out off 49 balls to lay the foundations for England’s 119-run win in the first T20 at Southampton on Tuesday.

Former England captain Pietersen watched from the dressing-room balcony after returning to the national set-up as a specialist mentor with the limited-overs side.

“Obviously we haven’t had too much time together so far but he’s a great figure to have in the changing room – the type of player he was, he looked at batting slightly differently, in a similar way to me as well,” Brook said of Pietersen.

“He always wants to try and look to put the bowlers under pressure, and I’m looking forward to working with him a lot more.”

Pietersen, one of England’s greatest batsmen, was brought into Brendon McCullum’s coaching set-up to work with the team in the build-up to next year’s 50-over World Cup in southern Africa.

“I was actually watching his (Pietersen’s) highlights earlier, funnily enough,” said Brook. “He was a phenomenal player. The way he accessed different areas of the ground made it really tricky to captain and bowl to, and I’m looking forward to having a lot of conversations about that.”

He added: “That’s not just for white-ball cricket, that’s for Test cricket as well. Hopefully he can have a big impact on my career.

“He’s a hero to a lot of players in that changing room. We all grew up watching him and admiring his work and it’s just awesome to have a man of his calibre in the changing room.”

Brook shared a 128-run second-wicket partnership with Jos Buttler and struck 30 runs in the fifth over alone, clubbing three sixes and three fours off Dunith Wellalage.

Former England Test captain Ben Stokes watched on television, and was clearly impressed.

“I don’t even think the genius of KP (Pietersen) could come close to what Harry Brook has talent-wise,” Stokes posted on social media. “You are an absolute freak, Harry. “